The Doctor's Remorse
by Dragon123454
Summary: Ten years. That's how long it's been since I met him: The Doctor. Ten years since I saw that beautiful blue box, ten years since he asked me to help him, since we ran. Since we saved the world again, and then he left. I've missed him, but I had to move on. Some people have normal lives, and only a few are forced in. My name is Katherine, and I never expected to meet him again.
1. Chapter 1

My eyes slowly opened as the incessant noise from my alarm clock blared in the quiet house. It was nice living alone. No one complaining or making noise. I did my daily morning routine, but I left my bags on the table, seeing as it was a Saturday. I glanced at the shopping list and winced as I noticed Molly was out of food. As if on cue, the Australian shepherd bounced out of her bed and circled around my legs, yipping joyfully. I poured myself a bowl of cereal as I reviewed my plans for the day, which totaled up to about four things. I was startled out of my day dreams by a loud banging on the door. Molly sprang up and bounded to the door, barking noisily. I shooed her away and opened the door. Leaning heavily against my doorframe was a man. His dark brown hair was messy and fell slightly over his face. His jacket was ruffled and his bowtie hung at an awkward angle. But I recognized him immediately.

"Doctor!" I exclaimed. He suddenly collapsed, and I just barely caught him.

"Oh, hi Kate." he said to me, and then passed out. Out of nowhere I heard a cloister bell chiming, and looked up to see the TARDIS with the door cracked open. Hoping no one would see me; I drug the Doctor over to the TARDIS and pulled him in. Instantly, the door shut behind me. I was momentarily scared, but the lights came on and the room was brighter. I leaned down to see if he had any injuries, and that's when I saw it.

"Doctor," I whispered, "what happened to you?"

On the side of his face there was some sort of metal device with flashing lights, but upon further examination, I noticed the device seemed to be connected to his skin. Suddenly the TARDIS lurched, throwing me sideways. The TARDIS jerked again and my head banged against the rail, making my vision blurry. I heard the familiar whooshing sound as the floor rocked back and forth. Suddenly the cloister bell sounded one mournful note and everything stopped moving. The door behind me slowly creaked open. I saw some people turn to look at me, and then I blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello all! This is my first fanfiction I've posted. I'm hoping to write more in the near future. In case you were wondering, I am NOT copying ****_A Nightmare in_****_Silver. _****This is just an alternate timeline that was inspired by that episode. Also I do not own Doctor Who or any of it's characters except Katherine, who is of my own design. Please review!**

Chapter 2

My fuzzy mind slowly climbed back into consciousness and I finally started to hear noise. I made it out to be voices, but I couldn't figure out what they were saying. I cracked my eyes open and tried to move. I groaned from the pain in my head. Instantly one of the people standing near me rushed over, followed by others.

"How do you feel?" asked one of the nurses.

"Where's the Doctor? Where am I?" I asked, ignoring the question. I tried to sit up, but was met by a wall of pain from the ride in the TARDIS.

"Lay back down, everything will be all right." She soothed.

"No, it won't," I snapped back and sat up, pushing through my soreness. I swung my legs over the side of the cot and slowly put weight on my feet. My legs felt perfectly fine, besides from some minor bruises.

"Miss, I really think you should-"

"Take me to him." I ordered.

She and the head nurse exchanged glances, and then the head nurse said, "Follow me."

She led me down a maze of bright white hallways until we went through a door with, "intensive care," written on it. We walked up to a doorway which she unlocked and entered through with me in tow.

"I should warn you, he's not himself right now." She said.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked.

"We don't know. That thing on his face is some kind of alien technology, but we don't know what alien." She sighed, "If we knew, we might be able to help. Right now he's in some sort of self-induced coma." I sat down in a chair as close as I could to the glass.

"Oh Doctor," I whispered, "What have you gotten yourself into now?"

Suddenly the door burst open behind up and everyone was on their feet, some of the men pulling out guns. A woman rushed in with her wild, fluffy, blonde hair flying out in every direction.

"Where is he? Is he alive?" she spoke with urgency.

"State your name and rank!" one of the soldiers shouted, still holding the gun level with her. She turned and locked eyes with him.

"I am professor River Song, and I am here for my husband."

This was met with dead silence. Finally one of the nurses spoke up.

"We didn't know the Doctor was married." I turned to look at the speaker, and was surprised to see that she was a cat lady.

"Let me inside the room. Let me see him!" she yelled.

The soldiers stepped back and the head nurse unlocked the room with a swipe of her card. River ran into the room and right to the Doctor's side. I quietly stepped in behind her. I noticed tears running down her cheeks as she touched the good side of his face with her hand.

"Oh," she whispered, "oh God no."

"What is it? What's wrong with him?"

She turned to look at me. "Are you his new companion?" She asked.

"Not really. He just kind of showed up on my doorstep." I shrugged. "What's wrong with him? What's wrong with the Doctor?"

"This isn't the Doctor, not anymore. This is a Cyberman."


	3. Chapter 3

** Hi all! Sorry for the late updates. I've been trying to figure out how often to update because 1) I haven't got an on-going never-ending story and 2) I don't know how often everyone wants them. Please review or send me a PM. I'd love to hear from you! this chapter's pretty short, but also pretty full of action. Enjoy!**

Later that day, me, River, the head nurse, and a couple other aliens I hadn't met we gathered in a board room. I sat next to River, who was still crying a bit.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Demon's Run," River whispered.

"What's a Cyberman?" asked the head nurse.

"Technologically upgraded warriors. They usually use humans as parts because they need a brain to run it. I've never seen them use an alien, nor have I seen something like this, half-formed thing," she responded.

"The Doctor's not human?" I asked.

"You didn't know?" She looked surprised, which made me feel stupid.

"No."

"Well, no use in keeping secrets now I suppose," she sighed, "He's an alien called a Time lord. Right now I suspect he's around 1,000 years old." The surprise must have shown on my face because she gave a half-hearted laugh. "That's what I first thought."

"What did you mean when you said, 'This isn't the Doctor'?" asked the nurse.

"He's not, not anymore at least. He is a Cyberman. Maybe he's still in there somewhere. He always had a knack for getting out of things like this." Her voice broke and she openly sobbed. I rushed over and wrapped my arms around her while her shoulders shook with sobs. Everyone continued talking while I hugged River. Suddenly I heard a voice in my head that sounded exactly like River's.

_He was so sweet. He acted like he didn't care, but he always did. I loved him so much, and he loved me back._

I thought out words in my mind to try and say something back, and found it easy.

_Don't act like he's already gone, there's still hope._ Somehow I felt like I knew what would happen. She looked up at me with surprise. I stood up and pulled River with me. Without knowing how, I knew the Doctor needed us.

"Where are you going?" she asked. I had a death grip on her hand and was dragging her down the hallway.

"The doctor's in trouble, he needs us now." At that moment, an alarm sounded, asking for all available nurses to go to room 221B, which was the Doctor's room. She looked at me in bewilderment.

"But, how did you-" she started.

"No time, he needs us now!" I said. I released her hand and ran down the hall, knowing she would follow. We burst into his room to see his body convulsing in his bed. We both ran into his room.

"What do we do?" she yelled.

I didn't answer; I just slowly walked up to the side of his cot. I reached out a hand and placed it in the center of his chest. The second I touched his skin, he gave one final jerk and his eyes flew open. His hands both grasped my arm and he leaned up towards me.

"Kate," he said shakily, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but what's wrong with you?" I asked him fearfully.

"The Cybermen, the one in my head, he's winning," he gasped for breath, "I can't hold on much longer, and when I let go, I'll be gone forever." He leaned closer to me, "I want you to listen carefully. What I want you to do is kill me." I gasped. "It's the only way; this Cyberman is too dangerous to fall into the hands of the Cyberiad."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello all! Sorry, been busy, so I didn't have time to update. I'm going to try to update every other day. pleeeeeeaaase review! I'm sorry again for the late update. Disclaimer: listen, I know I made you wait like 4 days, but don't call me Steven Moffat for that, okay? I'm not making you wait THAT long.**

"No, no, no, I won't do it!" I yelled at him. He started to open his mouth to say something back, when a voice spoke up.

"Doctor." In that one word was contained all the pain and love and joy and fear she had ever felt for him. She walked up beside me and stared down at him with tears in her eyes.

"River," he breathed as slid down onto the bed. He winced and turned his face away from her, "Don't look at me. I never wanted you to see me like this." But she slid her hand onto his cheek lovingly and turned his face towards hers. Then she leaned down and kissed him, slow and passionately. She slowly pulled away.

"I'll love you no matter what. I don't care what you look like."

He smiled a bit and then his body convulsed. He cried out as pain racked his body.

"Get out!" He screamed at us, "I don't want to hurt you!" I hesitated. "GET OUT!" He looked right at me and I saw the fear in his eyes. And I ran. I ran out of the room and ended up next to River who just stood there with her hands over her mouth. We all watched helplessly as the doctor's body quaked with throbbing pain. After too long he became motionless. The heart monitor was still beating the incessant rhythm of his hearts, so I knew he was still alive. All that could be heard besides the heart monitor was the steady beeping of the cyber technology on the Doctor. Then he shifted and slowly sat up. His head was dropped so his hair fell like a curtain in front of his face. I stepped forward to the glass and asked one word.

"Why?"

He slowly looked up at me and right then I knew that that wasn't the doctor.

"Why?" I asked again.

"Because," he said in a voice that instantly gave me chills, "the last of the time lords as a cyber planner? How could we miss the opportunity?" He smiled and I wanted to run and hide.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the cyber planner."

"What's a cyber planner?"

"Why do you care? You're all going to die anyway."

"Tell me."

"I control the Cyberiad. The whole of the cybermen."

He shivered a bit and then got up and paced the room, muttering things about humans being stupid. He turned away from me and I heard him say, "The doctor was a pointless existence anyway. He only caused pain to everyone around him."

"He was not pointless! He's saved billions and billions of lives and YOU are the pointless existence! You are horrible! Why don't you just die!" I roared at him. I blinked and noticed everyone was staring at me, even the cyber planner.

"Keep lots of guards and a few nurses in here at all times." River ordered and guided me out of the room. She led me down the hall out onto what I guess was the observation deck and sat me down. After a few quiet minutes I turned to her.

"Why was everyone staring at me?"

River looked confused and then said, "Well, because you acted like you were responding to him, but he never said anything."


	5. Chapter 5

**I really can't explain how sorry I am. I feel like Steven Moffat. I swear I will be better at this. On the good side, Sherlock is finally coming out! in two months...January 19th. *cries***

The next day, I came into the Doctor's room to find River and the others were already arranged. I sat down in my usual seat next to River.

"Has he said anything?" I asked her.

"Nothing, just sitting there." she sighed and then looked at me.

"He's gone, isn't he?" I asked, feeling very much like a child.

"Oh, sweetie," she reached over and hugged me as my eyes filled with tears,"I don't know."

"You know what I don't get?" the voice of the Doctor startled me. "Why are you keeping me here? What do you expect to accomplish? To get your precious doctor back? Ormaybe just to keep me out of trouble."

I moved up to the window as he stalked forward to where I stood.

"Well, I hate to tell you," he sneered, "but neither is going to happen."

I never said anything, just held his gaze, staring right into his brown eyes. I must have stood there all day, because River finally pulled at my arm.

"It's nighttime." she said and walked over to the door. I looked just a minute longer into his eyes and then smiled menacingly.

"That's what you think." I said with a growl and then turned and swept out of the room.

I grimaced as I heard an annoying beeping. I reached over to click off my alarm clock when I realize where I was. I didn't have an alarm clock here. I shot up in bed and was surprised to hear nothing. I realized the sound was in my head. I bolted over to River and shook her awake.

"Something's wrong!" I told her.

"What's wro-" suddenly a klaxon started blaring, identical to the one in my head. River shot up and grabbed a gun that was under her bed. We both bolted into the hallway with River leading.

"What's going on?" she shouted at a passing soldier.

"Cybermen!" he yelled back. Fear coursed in my veins as we ran to the Doctor's room. I was a bit relieved to see that he was still there, but that relief vanished when I saw the smug look on his face. Soldiers were all facing the door with guns pointed out. No one was looking at the Cyber planner. I gave him a confused look and simply looked back at me from his seat with a horrible smile on his face. I heard a banging on the door and then it suddenly flew open. The air was filled with bullets, but none of them even slowed down the intruders. I turned to see, and I finally knew what a Cyberman was. A figure was standing in the doorway. It looked to be made completely made of metal with a handlebar helmet. TheCyberman strode forward hitting soldiers and sending them flying across the room. I saw River get knocked down by one and she lay still. But then she lifted her head slightly and looked at me. The leading Cyberman ripped the Doctor's door off of its hinges as the Cyber planner hopped up in a casual manner and followed the cybermen out. I was the only person still standing in the room. The cyber planner stared straight at me and then raised a single finger to his lips.

A dagger of pain exploded in my head and I collapsed on the floor. The pain kept coming and coming in waves. I thought I heard River say something and I felt her hands on me. But I couldn't see anything through the enormous pain. Eventually, finally, I passed out.


	6. Chapter 6

**Because I was such a horrible person, here's an extra long chapter. I hope you enjoy! if you like it and want to see more (with no more interruptions, or for any wibbly-wobbly timey-whimey reason you want to, hit that little nice button that says follow. Thanks!**

I slowly climbed into consciousness and opened my eyes to see River sitting next to me.

"Oh God! I'm so glad you're okay!" she sighed.

"The doctor? Is he-"

"He's gone. He couldn't have left Demons Run, or else we would have known. But there are still some areas of demon's run that have been closed off ever since…" she trailed off and pain clouded her eyes. She shook herself and looked at me with a frustrated expression. "The real question is, what are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Strange things have been happening to specifically you. You can tell when something is going to happen minutes before it does, you hear things that people don't say, and then there's the mystery of what made you pass out. No one ever touched you, but when the Cyber planner put his finger to his lips you collapsed."

"As far as I know, I'm completely normal. Anyway, are we sending a search party to get the Doctor, I mean Cyber planner, back again?"

She hesitated, "yes, you've been out for about three days, so we're planning on sending it tomorrow."

"I want to go on it." I demanded

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Let me rephrase. I am going on it."

She sighed, "Fine."

The next day came too quickly and soon enough we were only an hour away from the mission. I kept having this horrible foreboding feeling.

"Are you going?" I asked River.

"They have my husband; Hell yeah I'm going." she glanced up at me."Are you okay? You don't have to do this."

"I need to do it."

We both headed out the door and walked silently towards the meeting place, next to the elevators. I was handed a gun and an earpiece. I had never fired a gun in my life, but everything had become crazy in the last, what, week? River saw me look skeptically at the pistol.

"It's easy, just point and shoot."

"Yeah, easy." I said and slid it into its holster.

"Okay," the lead soldier called out, "we're going down to hunt a don't know their capabilities. This is a dangerous mission, and I don't want anyone going down that isn't fully committed. Are we clear?"

"Yes sir." everyone said in unison.

"Good. Let's go get us a cyber planner."

We all stepped into the elevator and the doors closed, leaving me in a small confined space with a lot of people. To say the least it was uncomfortable. The elevator lurched and slowly lowered down. After what seemed like an eternity, there was a ding and the doors slid open. I nudged my way to the front to get a look at our surroundings. The hallway in front of us was destroyed; cables hung from the ceiling and the only light came from the windows that looked into outer space. The floor was littered in broken glass and the metal on the wall had massive burn marks on it. The only noise was the breathing of the soldiers. I pulled out my pistol and held it defensively in front of group moved forward silently, which I thought wasn't silent enough. The leader made a signal with his hand and the group split in half. River motioned for me to follow her. Our group split up again, leaving me, River, and one soldier in a group. We kept walking, checking every room and every hallway. Nothing. River clicked her earpiece on and said into it "have you found anything yet?" she got a few responses and the talked more into it. She clicked it off and turned to me.

"Two groups have gone silent."

"So it's here then. Let's keep going." I started forward again. I kept having the feeling of being watched, but every time I turned around, nothing was there. We clicked a button to open another door and there it was. I heard River give a silent sob. This was a hospital ward. Suddenly something moved, and I looked over towards it. A figure was standing in the room. Like it was a dream, the figure took on the shape of a woman with bright red hair. She was holding something in her arms. I looked closer to see what it was, and then realized it was a child. The mother was smiling and staring down at her baby. But then another figure, just as ghostly as the first, strode in. the mother wrapped her arms protectively around her baby, but the other figure stormed up and wrenched the crying baby from her hands. The mother screamed, and two more figures that looked like soldiers grabbed her arms and held her back. She wrestled and screamed, but to no avail. I heard her screams, but they were faint. I noticed that she kept yelling one word, over and over: _Melody. _

I jumped as River touched my shoulder, pulling me back from the vision. I turned to look at her, and something in me jumped.

"Who is Melody?" I asked in nothing but a whisper.


End file.
